Ghost jobs for sale: UK recruiters hiring migrants for jobs that don’t exist

Modern slavery and exploitation within the social care sector in the UK have been on the rise following a 2022 relaxation of immigration rules to address staffing shortages. Since the change, investigators and advocates have highlighted compelling evidence of multiple types of exploitation, including excessive fees that agents charge for visas.

Now, through secret filming, the BBC has exposed recruitment agents scamming foreign nationals applying to work in the UK care sector. These rogue recruiters are getting workers to come to the UK for jobs that don’t exist. This leaves migrants far from home and vulnerable to modern slavery. 

“It has turned into a national crisis.” 

In 2022, the UK government expanded a visa scheme—originally designed for foreign medical professionals—to include care workers in response to massive staffing shortages in the sector. Ever since the expansion, reports of immigration scams and exploitation have been on the rise.  

Dora-Olivia Vicol, CEO of Work Rights Centre, a charity that helps migrants and disadvantaged people in the UK access employment justice, said: 

“The scale of exploitation under the Health and Care Work visa is significant, I think it has turned into a national crisis.” 

Particularly shocking in the secret recordings is the apparent ease with which unscrupulous agents are able to operate. And by illegally selling jobs in UK care companies, they are reaping massive profits. Sometimes they even devise fake payroll schemes to conceal that some of the jobs they are “hiring” for don’t even exist.

Once the worker arrives for one of the fake jobs, the recruiter moves them from care to other sectors, like construction. And occasionally, they simply abandon the migrants to fend for themselves after collecting their “recruitment fees.”

“Launchpad for global opportunities” or ghost job? 

Praise* is one of the victims recruited for a ghost job by a company promoted as a “launchpad for global opportunities.” He says he paid a recruiter more than $13,000 USD for a job with a care company. But once he arrived, he realized the job didn’t actually exist.  

Praise said: 

“If I had known there was no job, I would have not come here, at least back home in Nigeria, if you go broke, I can find my sister or my parents and go and eat free food. It’s not the same here. You will go hungry.”  

He tried repeatedly messaging the company and the person who recruited him to find out when he could start working. While the recruiter continued to promise a job and assistance, Praise found himself on his own. Only after almost a year of looking was he able to find a real position with a different care provider. It’s that gap between arriving and being able to start working that makes leave workers especially vulnerable to modern slavery. 

First step on a journey of 1,000 miles 

The BBC discovered that Efficiency for Care, the employer that recruited Praise, employed approximately 152 in 2023. However, the investigation revealed that the company issued 1,234 Certificates of Sponsorship (CoS) to foreign workers in 2023. This massive gap between actual employment and CoS issued likely indicates that the company exploited many workers—and possibly pushed some into modern slavery just to survive.

Thankfully, in 2023, Efficiency for Care’s sponsorship license was revoked. But while that means they can no longer recruit from abroad, they still continue to operate. In addition, other BBC investigations uncovered similar visa scams targeting people in Kerala, India, and international students living in the UK who want to work in the care sector. 

The collapse of protections for migrant workers recruited into the UK’s care sector is not just a crisis—it’s a systemic failure. When jobs don’t exist, but workers are still recruited and charged thousands of dollars in fees, exploitation becomes inevitable. Many are left without income, housing, or recourse, trapped in debt and at risk of modern slavery.

Act to demand the system protects workers—not recruiters

This is exactly why Freedom United is calling for governments to prioritize safe migration policies that protect workers—not recruiters. Migrant workers must be able to access transparent recruitment processes, real job opportunities, and legal support if things go wrong. Stories like Praise’s show the devastating human cost when these protections are ignored.

Take action on our safe migration campaign to demand global action that centers workers’ rights and safeguards against abuse.

Migration should be a path to safety and opportunity—not exploitation.